Taylor had been a target for the home supporters all afternoon, never more so than when Byrne and Cleveland Taylor were both sent off for fouls on the Latics winger.

Adkins, who had done his best to whip up fervour before the game by running around with a Scunthorpe shirt which said '12th man' before throwing it to the home crowd, was pleased with his side's display but not that of official Darren Deadman.

He said: "I've slowed the video down. Cleveland Taylor is fouled by their player, Cliff Byrne doesn't make any contact and their player goes over. The referee is too keen to get his card out.

"All of a sudden, Cleveland's gone to right-back and he's made a forward's challenge on a player out of enthusiasm which is the person he is. It's unfortunate and the ref, in his wisdom, gives him another yellow card.

"When you end up playing 11 against nine, there's a different mentality but I'm so proud of the players. We haven't got individuals, we've got a team and that was a team performance."

For his part, Latics boss John Sheridan was pleased to have earned a point despite dominating the game almost from first whistle to last.

He said: "I was more than happy with the way we played. I don't want to talk too much about the sendings off but we dominated when it was 11 against 11 - Scunthorpe are a very good side at home, so I feel we matched them and were always comfortable.

"When they went to nine men, they defended in numbers and tried to hold it to 1-0 and they made it difficult for us. Fortunately we got the goal at the end.

"We deserved something out of the game and to get a draw late on showed character."